Harry Shum Jr.

Before stepping into the shoes of McKinley High’s Mike Chang, Harry Shum Jr. toured as a dancer (as did fellow Gleek Heather Morris) with Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, and Mariah Carey—and appeared as one of the silhouettes in Apple’s iconic iPod commercials. What had started as a dare by his friend quickly turned into a passion when Harry auditioned for his mostly all-girl high school dance team. "I wanted to change things and make it cool," he remarks. "Soon a lot of football players and other athletes started joining." And while he has fun choreographing and performing in the LXD Web series, Harry also finds a deeper meaning in the art form. "For me, dance is what music looks like; it’s the visual of what you hear," he says. "It’s the universal language." —TOMMY WESELY

Teenage Dream

Chord Overstreet

He may rock out as charming golden boy Sam on Glee, but this 22-year-old hasn’t always been eager to bust a move. "I had never danced before, so it definitely took a little bit to ease into it," Chord admits. "But I’ve been writing songs for eight years and have always loved music." True to his roots, the Nashville native is a big country fan, although he’d love to see New Directions cover Coldplay, his favorite band. And what about a Chord Overstreet original tune? "Right now I’m just going to work on having a successful career," he says. "But if they wanted to do it, I’m game." —GAYATRI RAJAGOPALAN

Darren Criss

"I didn’t go to my senior prom. I was grounded," recalls the 24-year-old actor. "The heartbreaking part was having to tell my date—who had bought this beautiful dress—that I couldn’t go." Luckily, the budding singer-songwriter gets to relive his teenage years on Glee as Blaine, the leader of The Warblers. The role isn’t a far stretch for Darren, who serenaded his classmates at school dances as the lead singer of his band, Uno Mas. And although this triple threat—who starred as Harry in the YouTube sensation A Very Potter Musical—claims he can’t break it down, he does admit that Motown music gets him grooving. "I have no formal training, but no one can question your bad moves if you embrace it," he says. "Go big or go home!" —T.W.

Kevin McHale

Don’t ask Kevin McHale, 23, to reminisce about prom. "I never went," the Glee star says. "My high school was really small and just completely focused on academics." That’s a shame because, as Kevin tells it, he would have been the first one to get jiggy with it. "I used to get in trouble in high school for dancing too dirty," he says. (We believe it: Before Glee, he was a member of boy band NLT.) These days, Kevin gets less of an opportunity to show off his moves, as the wheelchair-bound Artie Abrams. But that hasn’t stopped the actor from getting down with his castmates. "I learn all the choreography in rehearsals regardless," he says. It’s no surprise he encourages promgoers to have that same enthusiasm. His advice? "Bring an extra pair of comfortable shoes so you can dance!"